Indo-European Linguistics

Syntax

Jonathan Slocum and Carol Justus

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Work on IE syntax essentially began with Wackernagel's work on the second position of
particles as enclitic in the sentence. Other major concerns include case role relations
as expressed morphologically, the use of word order to express semantic and pragmatic
relations, and the extent to which word order may be the result of factors relating to
language typology. Other grammatical factors
that may characterize language types as well as older IE languages include issues related
to contentive typology.

Concerns with pragmatics, including the way a speaker's intention is encoded
in a language, and with text stucture, including such problems as the way clauses
are linked in the construction of paragraphs and how pronouns and other linking
devices are used in sentences and paragraphs, are not yet overtly addressed here.